How Getting to Work Costs Money

I don’t know about you, but I normally try to avoid paying tolls whenever I am driving anywhere. The only exception I make is if there is going to be a significant time saving by doing so. So recently my wife and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and to get to the restaurant that we had selected the most obvious route was to cross a toll bridge. We could have gone a different way, but it would have taken us about 20 minutes more and because I value my time, I decided that paying the toll was the best option for us.

Traveling to Work

Because we don’t cross this toll bridge all that often I didn’t bother to look at the prices before we left and was happy enough to pay the toll on the internet once we got home. As it turns out the toll was $4.47 each way. Considering the amount of time that we were going to save by using the bridge, I was OK with spending the money. I did however start to think about all the people who use that toll bridge every single day to get to and from work and if they ever thought about how much money a year it is costing them.

Traveling to work in a car is expensive enough with your fuel, registration and car maintenance costs – but add in tolls and potentially parking and you are starting to lose some serious coin…Whenever I feel like there is a lot of money at stake I often decide to do the math – so I did.

Lets say you have a full time job and use the toll bridge 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year to get to work.

5 x 52 = 260 days

260 days x $4.47 = $1,162.20 (one way)

$1,162.20 x 2 = $2,324.40 (both ways)

An incredible $2,324 a year on getting to and from work – that’s a lot of money just to cross some water.

Work Parking

Then I started to think about parking. I am fortunate enough not to have to pay for parking at my workplace, but many people are not that lucky. I took a look at the standard parking rates on the local council website. To my surprise anywhere surrounding the city will cost you between $25 and $60 a day. Lets say that you manage to get one of the cheap street parking spots at $25 a day.

5 x 52 = 260 days

260 days x $25 = $6,500

You would want to be making some good money to be spending $6,500 a year on parking!

Average Australian Wage

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the average Australian wage was about $69,000 per annum in 2011. So that means that if you’re Mr. Joe Average and you decide to use the toll bridge and to also park your car on the street, you are going to be spending $8,824.40 of your after tax dollars in just getting to and from work.

If we take the local Australian tax rates into consideration – Mr Joe Average takes home $55,028 in after tax income a year. He spends $8,824 or 16% of his total wage just being able to get to and from work. Incredible!

Reader Question

Do you think the average person considers how much it will cost to get to and from work? Would you consider it before taking a job somewhere?

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My commute used to be about three to four miles. Now it’s about four times the amount and I can really feel the cost. Luckily I’m making more money, but that doesn’t make the amount paid at the pump any more fun.Justin recently posted..The Vacation, the Asylum and the Pothole

I have been fortunate enough to be on extended leave from work and the one thing that I have noticed that we save heaps of money on is fuel. It can get really expensive when you have to drive a long way regularly.

If it works in Australia the way it does in the US, most toll roads with have an EZ Pass option, which is considerably cheaper. In addition, paid parking by the month is around half that of daily parking, or there may be “early bird” specials (in by 9AM, out by 7AM). Around here, regular parking is $20-25, but early bird is $9-12.Jenny @ Frugal Guru Guide recently posted..Kate and the iPhone

We live about a half an hour from our state capital and a lot of people commute. There aren’t any tolls but it still takes a ton of time to get there and there are daily traffic jams. I’m glad I’m not wasting my time or money commuting honestly.Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted..Harness the Power of Everyday Spending to Pay Down Your Student Loans

While I do consider the costs, I also know that getting to and from work is a necessary evil. I have heard people advocate renting your house and moving to an apartment closer to your home, but it’s tough if your significant other works in a different city as you. With that being said, I hope that businesses embrace work from home more in the future so people don’t have to waste money on commuting unless absolutely necessary.DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..How to Start a WordPress Blog in 5 Easy Steps

if I had a minimum wage it would be right around the corner from where I live. I think many people don’t consider too much the cost involved in going to work, or the fact that they may not even need a car in the first place if they had a local job. $25/ day for parking? I rent my UK parking space at $125/month, or local workers can apply for a monthly street pass. There are also monthly and yearly pass for tolls that work out about half price.Pauline recently posted..Selling some livestock investment

My work is pretty close to my house, at around 12 miles each way. However, we definitely spend a lot of money on our cars, wish they weren’t so expensive!Michelle recently posted..A Tornado and $888 in Extra Income

My work place is a similar distance, but we still spend a lot of time in the car due to traffic. Fortunately there are no tolls on my route to work.Glen recently posted..How Getting to Work Costs Money

I think people think about it. But sometimes that doesn’t stop them from staying where they are, because their work place may be in an undesirable part of town. If I ever took a full time job, I’d do whatever it took to live as close as possible. For me, I just hate sitting in traffic. I know I have a very low tolerance to it.Budget and the Beach recently posted..When Bankruptcy Makes Cents

When traffic was getting really bad I considered moving closer to work, but we were lucky enough that they fixed up the bottle neck and now it isn’t as bad as it used to be.Glen recently posted..How Getting to Work Costs Money

I’m lucky that we live in a city that is very transit friendly because commuting to work is such a pain but it’s the reality of most city life I think. That’s awesome that you don’t have to pay for parking where you work!Girl Meets Debt recently posted..His and Her Frugal Habits

That would be a horribly unfortunate exppence, daycare ranks up there but is so much more worth it. Companies need to factor in tolls, if population has to use it. Nobody can afford to live in the exclusive area where I work so I think we get a little hugher salary because most have to drive pretty far. Fortunatlt I have reasonable housing costs- now.

I didn’t even think about daycare, but it is something that my wife and I have been looking at ever since we have Nick. Working out the cost/benefit of her going back to work Vs putting Nick in daycare.

Thankfully at most of my jobs the parking was free or very cheap and have no tolls to pay. Now, the commute is a 20 foot walk from my bedroom. 🙂John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..One of the Worst Feelings in the World…

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I am not sure if people really take that cost into consideration. There is a toll road where I live, but most people don’t use it because there are many viable options to get around. If I was just moving into a place, I would check out if there are possible toll roads based on where I was planning on living and where I was going to commute to work.Debt Roundup recently posted..Helping Tenants Understand The Benefits of Having Renter’s Insurance

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Walking and biking can save you a lot of money and even get you into shape, but it would take a pretty big effort for me to do that from my place unfortunately.Glen recently posted..How Getting to Work Costs Money

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It has been well noted just how high the cost of living is in Australia. If we had a nation of any other group of people there would be riots in the street at some of the crazy prices and taxes we are forced to pay. But Australians are an apathetic lot and so things will probably never change.

This is one of the top reasons we are looking to relocate. Metropolitan areas may be nice for some but it’s not for us. I absolutely have to pay a toll in order to get to work unless I want to add an extra 20 minutes to my commute which would add up to 40 mins a day. When looking for work in the future I will definitely trace my route before hand.Brick By Brick Investing | Marvin recently posted..Simple Steps You Can Take To Ask For A Raise

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